Nancy Cooper's affair detailed in defense testimony

You must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters

Raleigh, N.C. — A man who says he had a one-time affair with Nancy Cooper nearly three years before her death testified Tuesday that he initially didn’t tell police about it, in part, because he was reluctant to do anything that would harm the slain mother of two's memory.

But John Pearson said during Brad Cooper's first-degree murder trial that his interviews with Cary police were otherwise complete and honest.

Pearson said he remembered walking Nancy Cooper home from a Halloween party in October 2005, while Brad Cooper was out of town, and that she invited him inside.

“She began taking her clothes off. I took my clothes off, and we, I believe, started to have sex," Pearson said, adding that his memory was vague because he was intoxicated that night. "My memory is that we stopped and got dressed and decided to never speak about it again."

But they did. Katie Cooper was born approximately nine months later, raising questions about the child's paternity.

"I asked, 'Is there anything we should worry about here?'" Pearson said. "She said, ‘absolutely not,' and that was the only time we ever talked about it."

Pearson said he never had any romantic feelings for Nancy Cooper and that the two lost touch in 2006. He said he didn't really talk to her again until May 2008, when she called him "out of the blue" about a lawsuit his ex-wife had filed against Heather Metour, a woman with whom Pearson said he had been having an affair for several years.

The two met for coffee and talked a few other times over the next two months, Pearson said.

On cross-examination, Pearson said that he became worried months later when he found out about concerns that he might have been involved in Nancy Cooper's death.

"It was brought up by the defense that I was an alternate theory," Pearson said. "I became alarmed."

Scott Heider, a friend of Brad and Nancy Cooper and Metour's ex-husband, also testified Tuesday that Brad Cooper was always "politically correct" and watched what he said in public.

"He never aired his dirty laundry. He was respectful," Heider said. "He was calm. He never said anything inappropriate in public."

Witnesses have testified that the Cooper marriage was in trouble in 2008 because of an affair Brad Cooper admitted to having with Heider's ex-wife in 2005 and because of money.

Tensions between the two heightened in the week prior to Nancy Cooper's death, and witnesses said she fussed at her husband at a neighborhood barbecue the night before she died.

But Heider described the marriage as being "typical" and "standard" in 2006, when the two couples spent a significant amount of time together.

He said he couldn't recall the couple raising their voices to one another, and he said he never had any reason to believe that Nancy Cooper was afraid of her husband or that Brad Cooper was violent.

"He was an introvert," Heider said. "Quiet. Reserved. He kept his thoughts to himself."

Nancy Cooper, on the other hand was "gregarious" and "sociable" with a tendency of telling colorful stories that friends referred to as "nannerisms" – "Nancy's version of a story," Heider said, "very colorful – just airy and light and her version of it."

nufsaidApr 27, 2011

""Ok Folks, Watch out! You may get called to the stand to defend any comments you post here!"

don't subpoena me bro!golorealist"

Bring it on.

zeppy2827Apr 27, 2011

BC NOT GUILTY!

zeppy2827Apr 27, 2011

Carol Cooper ROCK. Quack, quack, quack

ilovecountry56Apr 27, 2011

@BostonCollegemom--according to JA testimony on day 3/4 she said after BC told her that NC went jogging she went and had coffee and cereal w/hubby then off to the gym for about 1 1/2 or so because she was upset that NC did not call her about going jogging since they were jogging partners when she returned home she said hubby was fixing lunch for the kids and she had lost her appetite when the phone rang from the cooper hm, and she was debating on what she was going to say to NC about her going jogging without her, but when she answered it it was BC wanting CC # because NC had not got home from jogging yet and you can gather the rest there went th phone calls to friends ,hospitals then 911, you figure

cdhrtpApr 27, 2011

I so wish Mrs Cooper had responded that it wasn't her job to investigate and make sure that the prosecution's witnesses were truthful and only testified to things they KNEW rather than testify to speculation that turned out to be wrong!

Objective ScientistApr 27, 2011

FTimePlayer... BC had an affair with NC's best friend and lied about it - YES. NC had multiple affairs. BC had sex in a closet with children nearby. NC had "sexual contact" while nude on the family couch. BC yelled at NC in a parking lot - NC was yelling as well. BC showed little emotion - some process grief, etc. more "internally" - does not mean he had "no" emotion. BC removed NC from all financial accts - what else was he to do? She was spending/had spent the family into financial "dire straits". I'm sure NC would have "protested", but NC had NO choice. Your thoughts are good, logical thoughts... in a vacuum... without retort. We can all make a good "case" for many things if we have no one questioning our facts and logic. BC is far from being that proverbial "saint", but whatever distance he is from "sainthood" - NC is just as far away, if not farther, than BC is. There is YET TO BE any, beyond reasonable doubt, "proof" of BC's guilt. As of ~4:45 PM today - NOT GUILTY!